Guild Wars 2

I do understand this is an MMO BUT it seems like elementalist is a very useless profession if you do not have people around you to help, I am a fairly average MMO player so I know how to set up combos and CC and stuff like that, but I have died at least 20 times in each high level questing area simply because a slot skill was on CD and I could not use it. Whilst other proffesions do not even need to use there slot skills.

I will talk about scepter dagger because that has been quote on quote the best solo build for people so far from what I have seen.

Our damage is very mediocre and suffers a lot if the target can move. Dragon’s tooth the hardest hitting spell I found in elementalists hits half for the average using his seconds MH dagger skill and has a HUGE animation time for what it does, Phoenix cast time should be a lot less lengthy since I have used dragons tooth and about 1.5-2 seconds later I can use phoenix which in PvP is a lot of time and flame blast… This spell should hit at least twice as hard for what its cooldown is and how easily it can miss but it doesnt so it could do with a smaller CD and a bigger blast radius in length and width

Arc lightning hits for a TINY amount of damage, I understand it is our base lightning damaging ability but hell I have seen people with mediocre regenerating buffs out heal the damage I do with this. Ride the lightning is a bit buggy and there is at most times a delay when it explodes, when you sit there as a ball of lightning it gets really annoying and in some cases has lead to my death because I cannot get out of it.

The water tree is very bad, Shatterstone has a long and irrelevant animation time and in all fairness should at least add a slowing effect with a Diminishing returns CD on it. Seeing as trident and cleanse wave are mainly for healing it would be nice for it to actually heal us decently since it only heals for tiny amounts.

Earth tree is okay by my opinion all except for churning earth, its damage is REALLY low for what it does plus its cast time is just silly. Casting it most of the time pretty much means death.

We are also a bit squishy and will be nice to actually have some surival mechanics. For one the CD of switching between attunements does not need to be so long and maybe extra defensive additions for what weapon you have equipped.

YES I have built more defensively but it is at the cost of pretty much all of my damage output and only prolongs my fights and has the same out come, Im tired of people telling me to do this.

We should get way points for free being this class as I have lost over a gold on them grr

D/D is faster, S/D is just safer.

All you basically have to do is ring of fire > earthquake > signet of air > churning earth.

I use D/D and while in Orr, I always try to pull groups of at least 3 and depending on what they are, usually up to around 8. If I need to run around and collect mobs, I usually start out with burning speed to the first one, then drake’s breath, or the other way around if my last target is a little aways. I then ring of fire, switch to earth, earthquake, signet of air, churning earth – half way through churning earth’s cast switch to water, arcane wave, frost aura – churning earth casted. Follow up with frozen burst, dodge roll backwards/out and cone of cold. If they’re still alive, switch to air, ride the lightning (optional), updraft, shocking aura, switch to fire and burning speed back in. If they’re still alive (must be all veterans), drake’s breath, fire grab and begin to repeat initial rotation.

I use the 20% more damage to vulnerable foes while in water attunement, which is why I switch to water during churning. I also have vulnerability on arcane/signets, so all targets have 6 stacks. Additionally, I have 5 points in arcana, so I have fury when switching attunements, which makes churning usually crit, around 5k

For gear, I just run with pure magic find (meaning it could be even easier), so all power/precision/magic find. It’s offset by the fact I’m water/earth/arcana though.

You’re running 30/30 water earth and ten Arcane? Sounds like an interesting build.

Hanako.1827:

Earth tree is okay by my opinion all except for churning earth, its damage is REALLY low for what it does plus its cast time is just silly. Casting it most of the time pretty much means death.

I don’t know about you, but Churning Earth hits like a truck when I use it. And it rarely results in my death unless I’m alone in a big dynamic event. With S/D if you use Dust Devil and Earthquake first, then by the time Churning Earth is done casting you will have taken little to no damage. Plus I have Armor of Earth and Mist Form as 2 of my utilities, both of which can be cast while Churning Earth is casting to make sure it finishes without me being knocked down or otherwise one-shot. In PvP, Lightning Flash can also be used to teleport yourself mid-Churning Earth cast to make sure it hits running targets.

Healix.5819:

D/D is faster, S/D is just safer.

All you basically have to do is ring of fire > earthquake > signet of air > churning earth.

I use D/D and while in Orr, I always try to pull groups of at least 3 and depending on what they are, usually up to around 8. If I need to run around and collect mobs, I usually start out with burning speed to the first one, then drake’s breath, or the other way around if my last target is a little aways. I then ring of fire, switch to earth, earthquake, signet of air, churning earth – half way through churning earth’s cast switch to water, arcane wave, frost aura – churning earth casted. Follow up with frozen burst, dodge roll backwards/out and cone of cold. If they’re still alive, switch to air, ride the lightning (optional), updraft, shocking aura, switch to fire and burning speed back in. If they’re still alive (must be all veterans), drake’s breath, fire grab and begin to repeat initial rotation.

I use the 20% more damage to vulnerable foes while in water attunement, which is why I switch to water during churning. I also have vulnerability on arcane/signets, so all targets have 6 stacks. Additionally, I have 5 points in arcana, so I have fury when switching attunements, which makes churning usually crit, around 5k

For gear, I just run with pure magic find (meaning it could be even easier), so all power/precision/magic find. It’s offset by the fact I’m water/earth/arcana though.

Saddest thing is: on my guardian, I just keep on walking until I get the attention of all 8, put up my symbol and whirling wrath. Some auto-attacks to finish any survivors of and loot. Its just sickening. The state of Elementalist I mean.

That’s more a problem with guardian than anything else. This game clearly isn’t meant to be played by passively tanking 8 mobs, no matter what class you play.

Yukishiro.8792:

That’s more a problem with guardian than anything else. This game clearly isn’t meant to be played by passively tanking 8 mobs, no matter what class you play.

Warrior profession description disagrees. It clearly states: eating damage through heavy armor. There is not a single profession out there(mesmer does its best though) that has to put up such elaborate chains of skills to do simple things. Guardians might have it a bit too easy, other professions have it definitely too easy but ele has it too hard. That’s all what I wanted to say.

Warriors can’t passively tank 8 mobs. Heavy armor doesn’t do a whole lot in this game to reduce damage. Looking at maybe ~10-15% added mitigation compared to cloth IIRC.

But yes, ele does require more work for about the same result compared to faceroller classes like warrior or guardian.

I think I am done with my ele…sadly I Ieveled her to 80 but I am bored to play piano on my keyboard, just to end up dead. Really not worth the effort for the final result which is mediocre. Overall the combat system is very demanding to me, imagine what I’ve been going through trying to control an ele. If it had good output, I would try more…but its disheartening..in pve I am ok..but wvw I die in 2 seconds and almost never managed to kill 1v1, just some other eles and some necros. Mellee classes kill me instantly. I don’t even have time to put on my cantrips. Yes, I may suck compared to some people, but I want my gaming experience to be enjoyable and not frustrating. Also I am sick of having to study, study and study again, just to be able to play a freaking class in a freaking game! Sad thing? I don’t like the aspect of other classes but I must find some to play

I’ve got a mid lvl warrior and a high 40’s ele. And without a doubt the ele is for more work to level. With my warrior I can with some effort quest in area’s with mobs 3-5 lvls above my own. But when I play my ele 1 lvl above and if there’s more than a single enemy I’m dead. Obviously I’m not a hardcore gamer but still I shouldn’t have to spend more time studying a class than actually playing it in order to play the game and have a fun time doing it.

I use S/D in PvE most of the time (switching to staff for big events). I’m spec’d 20 fire/20 air/20 earth/10 arcane.

I like S/D because of the control it gives me over mobs and the general rotations I can do before I take damage. Usually I’ll pull by blasting 1-2-3 in my air attunement, ride the lighning into the middle of a mob after pulling, updraft, hit my armor of earth and then use churning earth. Stability from armor of earth means I can’t really be interrupted during channeling, plus the protection is an added benefit. Straight after this I switch to fire, use ring of fire and then pheonix anything that’s left.

For the most part this works wonders against nearly all mobs, as it gives a good coverage of conditions and damage before the fight really begins.

I do agree however that the elementalist is currently under powered. We have the lowest HP pool of all professions, and while we can do damage; our output is nowhere near that of other classes.